I cannot speak for anyone aside my fellow New Englanders, but driving here is always unpredictable!
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/weather/stories/Accumulating-Snow-to-Impact-Friday-Morning-Commute-367563541.html (photo credit)
You wake up in the morning knowing very well that the weather report from last night is VERY different from what you are viewing outside your window. Your phone weather app is completely inaccurate and it is "supposed to" be sunny and 40 degrees F outside, yet there are big fluffy snow flakes falling. After warming up your car, you leave for work. Not ten minutes into your commute your car is stuck in thick mud because you hit a patch of ice and slid off of the road. Due to the car complications you call your boss, reporting that you will be late to which he replies "The office is closed today, I sent out an e-mail". A nice civilian stops his truck and pulls over to help. He attaches chains to your car and pulls you out.
Three hours later, all of the roads are cleared. The shoveling is finished and all the plows have come through. You scraped all of the ice off of your "summer" car (in our case a Corvette that only gets driven from May until November if we are lucky) and you get a day off of work which by the way is usually a 20 minute commute but today would have been an hour and a half, plus the time you spent trying to get your car out of the mud.
http://www.courant.com/weather/hc-weekend-blizzard-weather-forecast-20160121-story.html (photo credit)
The sun is now out and the snow is starting to melt! It is now about 40 degrees F and things are starting to look a little brighter. From your window, once again, you see the blinding sun reflecting off of the snow and the sun shining and note the wet wet roads resulting from the snow melting. You go out to let the dog out and notice that even though the thermostat above the door says 40 degrees F, the wind chill makes it feel more like 20.
A few hours passed. You have started a fire in the fireplace and it is 4 pm. The sun has already set. You forgot to get mushrooms at the grocery store yesterday so you go outside to warm up your car. 15 minutes later, your car is finally warm enough to leave. Once again, you slip around. All the snow that melted earlier is now frozen and the temperature outside has dropped at least 20 degrees. The grocery store is around the corner. Five stop signs and a traffic light away. Two songs on the radio, you've calculated before. It takes twenty minutes to get there. You notice a few accidents on the bottom of the hill of the way you normally go, this time you went all the way around because of the ice. You learned your lesson from this morning.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/photos-major-storm-dumps-travel-halting-snow-from-alabama-to-massachusetts/70000500 (photo credit)
You are finally home. After your long day of getting stuck, shoveling, driving through the disastrous roads, you are now home and safe. Your furnace is now not working. Your husband is downstairs fidgeting with it and you are cooking dinner with your winter jacket on. While the water is boiling you sneak over to the fireplace and warm your hands. Finally the Gas Company is on their way. Two hours and $500.00 later you have heat in your home.
All to do it again tomorrow.
